Fresh Newsletter for August 24th
What’s Fresh at the Vashon Farmers Market this Week!
by Rebecca Wittman
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August 24, 2012
Here’s food for thought from Rebecca, our market Manager.
The highlight of my youthful social life (geek alert, I warn you…) was always the County Fair in September. It was one glorious week – after months of effort (and maybe a little procrastination) – of showing off our completed 4-H projects; of waiting to see who would be crowned the new Wheat Queen; of trying to catch the eye of some handsome farm boy; of trying to keep your hotdog and swampwater down on the carnival rides; of watching silly politicians hold forth while their wives suffered in hideous red, white and blue outfits. It was the tableau of life all rolled up into one intensely compressed experience, a place that inspired me without fail every year.
The Fair Building was alive with creative energy, with rows and rows of impeccably (or horribly) stitched 
garments, huge or unnaturally perfect treasures from people’s gardens, and jars of preserves that looked like they’d popped out of the future pages of Martha Stewart magazine. Red, White and Blue ribbons adorned the crème de la crème of the thousands of fair entries, and some people’s ribbon count after “judgment day” was akin to modern Olympic Medal tallies. The Michael Phelps of the jam division was both revered and reviled, and rarely shared her recipes. Out in the 4-H barn, animals looked like they were ready for the prom – or Jenny Craig, depending on which end of the barn you were visiting. I loved the otherworldly chickens the best. I felt sorry for the girls who were snuggled up to their perfectly groomed steers, sobbing in anticipation of the livestock auction.
I wax reminiscent about the County Fair every year at this time, and have long wished we had one here on Vashon. But short of turning K2 into a giant Fair building, I’m content to start small. That’s where the Farmer’s Market Harvest Celebration comes in. It’s a petite county fair fix, just the right scale for our little community, and the perfect reminder of how much we can accomplish with Mother Nature’s raw materials.
The Harvest Celebration is just two weeks away, which is still plenty enough time for you to get your creative juices flowing. The fruit for preserving is ripe and ready to put up into quilted little jars; the vines throughout the garden are loaded with their fat bounty. The contests are set, and we want YOU to bring us your best: PRESERVES, PICKLES, TOMATOES, and for a really big dose of fun, SCARECROWS.
In the next few days, all the details about these contests and all the other fun events of the Harvest Celebration will be posted on the VIGA/Farmers Market website, vigavashon.org. Please pass the news along to anyone you know who would enjoy participating – especially kids. (Consider doing a Scarecrow as a family art project!) And if you just aren’t the jam and pickle making type, or a scarecrow artist or tomato grower, remember that every art needs its patrons. Come support – and be impressed by – the amazing things your island neighbors have wrought. Who knows – you might finally score a wink from that handsome farm boy!
Here’s what on offer this week at YOUR bountiful Vashon Farmers Market:
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